It is well known that when a package of bacon having slices or strips of bacon in shingled or stacked relation is stored in a refrigerator the slices stick together and are very difficult to separate. It seems that the fat on the surfaces of the bacon strip congeals and acts in the nature of an adhesive. It is difficult to get hold of a strip of bacon in such a package and even when one gets hold of a slice the slice tends to break up when an attempt is made to pull it from the remaining strips of the package.
One way in which the art has attempted to solve this problem is to put strips of waxed paper between the slices of bacon. To do this by hand is tedious and time consuming. The cost of the paper material and the labor involved has proved so great that the method is economically impracticable.
The art has further sought by mechanical means to place paper between the strips of bacon as they are packed. Attempts have been made to pack the bacon using a preformed strip of paper which has been pleated in accordion fashion and place the bacon strips within the pleats. Such a machine is disclosed in the United States patent to Crowley et al U.S. Pat. No. 2,817,198. However, difficulties encountered in handling the bacon strips both in the placement of the bacon strips and in their assemblage in interleaved form are factors which it is believed has prevented such machines from coming into commercial use.
The problem is further complicated by the fact that modern slicing machines are customarily run at a high rate of speed which may be of the order of 1000 or 1500 slices per minute, and the handling of materials at this rate of speed brings additional problems.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a method and machine for interleaving slices of bacon, sausages or other materials and particularly to provide methods and means for interleaving the slices or strips at a high rate of speed as they come from a commercial slicing machine. Other specific objects and advantages will be apparent as this specification proceeds.